"The fact that Apple can cram a nearly-2GHz Core 2 Duo into the MacBook Air either means that Moore's law has caught up with our desires or Apple is going to make it so you can no longer have children."

considering apple is the worst environmental offender of all of the major techies out there, i'm leaning towards the latter.

funny that they pander....i mean, er...market...to the "young and hip", who're typically the more "environmentally conscientious"...

any empires out there that don't make you hum the imperial march theme? Reply

Finally a decent article on the MB Air from someone who has experience with ultralights. I've owned a couple of the Sony 505s, and I'm looking forward to running the MB Air through its paces. It's silly to compare the Air with either the MacBook or the MacBook Pro, because both are very different animals. What Apple has attempted to do--and perhaps succeeded--is to create a fully functional laptop with few compromises. As far as I know, only the Toshiba Portege has come close to this. I've had my MacBook Pro for almost two years now, and it's easily the best laptop I've ever owned (of about 15 or so). The build quality on the MacBook Pro is unsurpassed, and I'm assuming the Air will be of similar quality with its aluminum housing and other Apple components... but almost three pounds lighter! That's what makes the Air so exciting: it's a high performance and high quality notebook that is fully functional, all under 3 pounds and at a much lower price point than has been the case for ultralights in the past. My bet is that it will be a big success for Apple. Reply

That's just what the world needs, another Crapple accessory with weld shut battery, memory, and hard drive slots, except it's 3 times as expensive as iPhone, and a whole lot more junk for Chinese recyclers to destroy their villages with. Reply

I don't own a single apple product. But I admire/drool over their designs. My price calculations however don't work out. Because other designs offer far better specs at similar price points.

After following apple for a while my new pipe dream is: aesthetics at an affordable price point whoever does it. With enough volumes shipping may be apple will lower prices for some of the pleasant products or somebody else.

(having a hip device is not the prerogative for select few, apple seems to be making hip devices for masses. Oh! But the prices!!!) Reply

After the launch of the Macbook Air and the CPU choice it is clear why other two laptops have not been updated. In my opinion Apple has already designed or refreshed the design of macbook and macbook pros. The Penryn ramp up is an important step for Apple to release those two laptops. They are after all the core computer products that apple sells. They have huge volumes now and penryn production at this moment probably could not support the apple volumes thus leading to huge shortage. I think Apple is waiting for a month or two two launch those products.
The CPU choice here also makes sense, since the margins for intel are great on the 65nm process and thus they could afford to shrink the package size. Who knows after Apple's move other companies might want Intel to deliver this 20mm package size. That would create many Macbook Air like competitors. Even laptops like Asus Eee PC could benefit from this processor. Reply

So a 5 pound 1" thick 13" Macbook laptop is not portable enough for some people? Is losing 0.24 inches in thickness and 2 pounds really worth the sacrifices one must take when buying this device (oh, and 800 dollars). I, for one, do not believe that this is so.

Another thing I disliked on the Keynote was its comparison to the TZ series. Steve can say all he wants about how the speed is slow and its thick, but I would be very impressed if Apple made an 11" laptop with a 1.6 GHz C2D processor; 13" laptop, not so much. Granted its thin but at the same time you have more room to work with. Also the TZ series has a much greater battery life, mobile broadband connection, a 1.3 MP webcam, fingerprint reader and carbon fiber casing.

So, in short, this was a bad move on Apple's part. They already have a 13" laptop and its called the Macbook, there's no need to make another. It would have been nice/made sense if they made a 12" touch laptop with those specifications and around a 1500 dollar price point.

Another thing I was hoping for was a replacement for the Macbook. Just make an Aluminum 13" Macbook with LED backlighting and the new 45 nm Penryn processors and just have one upgradeable model at $1099 (I'm sick and tired of the ripoffs they are pulling with the Macbooks). Reply

Perhaps the largest point you missed about the TZ series is that it has an optical drive. It also has 2 USB ports and because of all the built-in stuff you don't need to use them as badly as on the Air. Reply

It's not seamless. The bottom has about a dozen screws. I spoke to a rep and he told me everything's soldered to the board and only an Apple tech could change anything. So your warranty would be invalid if you changed the HDD or battery or RAM yourself.

That said, since the insides are so easily accessible and an Apple tech can replace the HDD, battery and RAM (from my experience of Apple "geniuses", they're good but not with any technical skill better than I have) you could probably change things yourself if you had any level of soldering skills above beginner. Reply

The media love affair with Apple is that it takes technologies that already exisit, and packages them in a form that is actually useful.

There are fewer iPhones than Windows Mobile phones, but far more data traffic from iPhones than from Windows Mobile. Not just a litte bit more.

Why? Web browsing on a cell phone certainly isn't "new." But Apple is the first company to make the experience pleasant, easy, and accessible to people who don't want to futz around with engineer-desinged usability nightmares.

One example on the Macbook Air is Apple's implementation of remote drive sharing and Netbooting, which is, by far, the slickest and best implemantation of that old technology that I've ever seen.

They're even better at making useable Unix tools than other companies. The command syntax of hditutil, for instance, is much better than your typical cryptic Unix syntax.

I know A LOT about hardware, software, and technology. I know more than anyone else that Apple's technologies aren't usually "new" in the sense that no one has ever done thing "x" before. And yet, I will usually buy an Apple product rather than a competing product, usually paying more for the privilege. Because I know that it work the first time around, well and intuitively. My time is valuable.

Just like I set up Linux machines for people, but wouldn't use one for my ordinary desktop environment, it is possible to know and understand technology and still prefer Apple products. Reply

"seem to potray apple as some revolutionary company that is doing things no one ever has done before" - but isn't that true? There is **no other company** that cannot fit Ethernet port, at least 3 USBs, PCMCIA card reader, DVD-RW writer, flash card reader, and many other neccesary things into 3 lbs. computer.

Apple did it first!

It is the first company that created a notebook that cannot have external mouse and USB dongle connected at the same time, the first company that created a notebook that cannot play DVDs and/or insert CDs, and the first company that prevents you to connect to hotel internet (via Ethernet port).

You see, Apple is first for many things :-) (it does not matter all of them are negative)

You hit the nail on the head. One possible explanation for this type of mass behaviour could be that apple managed to plant this little seed into the minds of the general public and the media drones, that tells them to think that apple and its products are, without exceptions, "cool and hip". And because most people want to be considered "cool and hip" instead of boring and square, they love to talk about it, hoping to catch some of the imaginary shining light that surrounds the product for themselves and of course to cater to the alleged public demand to hear about amazing thingies all day long. Similar to the funny things people will do and say to get associated with movie or music stars...

This has nothing to do with the actual quality of the product (and apple does have nice products), its rather a brilliant marketing feat they pulled off at some point in time that enhances the value of their company and products without spending too much on marketing - the media drones will do it for them. Brilliant, just brilliant. And perhaps the best thing apple has ever achieved. Reply

It's just the media. While Steve Jobs is a media Svengali, it's only the media who are eating out of his hand. The general public is smarter than that and see Apple for what it is. They only had a 5.7% market share this year in the US, and far less elsewhere. Reply

it is not just the media. media hype can get people to buy maybe one product one time. it cannot make them come back. frankly apples been around and successful for so long the media hype argument needs to be shelved. Reply

I think it is just the type of marketing they do. They hope to hit the hundreds of thousands of people out there that don't have a clue and suck them in.

For those that know better or are smart enough to seek out a friend a who does know better aren't as affected.

My father in law is an excellent example. He doesn't know better but he thinks he does. I have 15 years experience in software/hardware etc. He will ask my advice on something and then usually does something completely different. Usually because he heard something on TV or one of his friends who doesn't have a clue told him different.

My Ghod I wish marketing products was as simple as you think it is. I _strongly_ doubt Apple could have grown so much over the past five or so years (Maybe it's longer?) on mere 'marketing to people without a clue'. I get SO SICK of my executives belief that marketing crap will make people buy crap, there's five years of proof where I used to work that that is a complete and utter pipe dream. Reply

Its the wrong product for you, but it MAY be the right product for others. Who knows it could be a Mac Cube or as successful as the original iMac (which I doubt). In any case I like it and am going to buy it. Reply